Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails
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 A good way to start off the CGI Era of Thomas.
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Hero of the Rails is a 2009 CGI adventure family special and film of the British children's television series Thomas & Friends. The film introduces full CGI animation replacing live-action models, and the addition of a voice cast for the characters alongside the narration to the TV series.
Plot
One summer, Thomas comes across an old abandoned engine called Hiro in the forest. Desperately in need of repair, Hiro faces the Smelters Yard, so Thomas and his friends must work together to save poor Hiro from his final fate.
Why It's A Hero of the Rails Indeed
- This is the very first Thomas & Friends production to use CGI animation exclusively, instead of the live-action models used in Seasons 1-12. However, Season 12 uses a mix of CGI and models. In addition, the CGI for the Island of Sodor and Thomas and the other engines looks pretty good. The CGI animation itself is nice and looks something out of either Pixar or Dreamworks, especially for 2009 standards.
- The premise of having Thomas bringing a very old Japanese steam engine back into a brand-new steam engine is pretty good for a Thomas special, so this is well executed.
- We are introduced to the newer engines in this special, and vehicles that it uses after the special, but not limited to:
- Hiro, an old and wise Japanese tender engine, who is famously known as the "Master of the Railway", but he was all worked up, and abandoned, and leaving him in the forest.
- Victor is a narrow gauge engine who used to work at the Manuel de Céspedes Sugar Mill in Cuba, but he went to Sodor and he works at the Sodor Steamworks with Kevin. In fact, he is very likable, and he gained such development in "Blue Mountain Mystery".
- Kevin is a well-meaning, but clumsy four-wheeled crane who works at the Sodor Steamworks.
- Considering that he was flanderized in Season 12, Thomas is actually likable in this movie and shows the charm that he had in Seasons 1-11.
- The voice acting for the CGI engines, and as well as Hiro who was voiced by Togo Igawa were well-done!
- The narration for both the US and UK dubs is great as usual, despite Michael Brandon's narration being cringe inducing at times.
- The soundtrack is well done.
- "The Biggest Present of All" from Season 13 serves as a sequel to this special and is a nice welcome back to Sodor type of episode for Hiro.
- Hiro shares a good backstory about how he went from Japan to the Island of Sodor, and he began to show his age and break down and the workmen did not have the necessary parts to repair him. To escape being scrapped, he was put on a siding, where he had to wait for the parts to come from his homeland. However, the parts never came and Hiro was all but forgotten.
- Lots of cool action scenes, especially the race of Thomas and Spencer with their trucks before the first time we meet Hiro in the forest, and as well as the final chase with Thomas and Spencer before Spencer falls off the old swamp bridge, despite that scene not needing to have that amount of narration.
- The ending: Hiro confesses he is homesick to Thomas, despite everything he has done. Thomas understands this and tells Sir Topham Hatt, who takes care of everything, and arranges a farewell party for Hiro in his honor, as Hiro returns home after talking to Thomas and Percy one last time before catching his boat.
- Along with Blue Mountain Mystery, it's much better than Seasons 9-10 and 12-16 of the show.
- This could be a great way to start the Thomas & Friends CGI series.
Disgraceful, Disgusting, and Despicable Qualities
- Even though Kevin is a likable character, he often makes a lot of mistakes throughout the Sodor Steamworks scenes. Every time he has caused an accident or two at the Steamworks, he'll say "Sorry boss!" to Victor. To be fair, the mistakes he makes are forgivable, and they happen unintentionally.
- Henry, Toby, and Mavis get very little dialogue from here and there. To be fair, with Mavis, she was part of the plot where she gets Spencer under the slate chute.
- Even though the premise of having Hiro back to be repaired once again is quite amazing, Thomas trying to repair Hiro discreetly is rather unrealistic...
- For one thing, his driver and fireman should have told Sir Topham Hatt and the Steamworks workers about Hiro.
- It's oddly convenient that the Steamworks just happens to have all of the spare parts Thomas needs in Hiro's sizes.
- How are they getting the parts on Hiro? There is no room for any cranes or other equipment in Hiro's hideout, and many of the parts, not the least of which being a boiler, would be far too heavy for Thomas's driver and fireman to carry by hand.
- Hiro is steamed up when he has finally been patched up, then he and Thomas puff away. Who was driving Hiro? Also, without the water injector, he would likely not be able to steam up, and even if he could, the condition of his parts is questionable, so it would be very dangerous.
- The US narrator Michael Brandon may have done a good job, but at the same time he isn't nearly as good as Michael Angelis, Ringo Starr, Mark Moraghan, or George Carlin. Then again, he is nowhere near as awful or as bad as Alec Baldwin in the US dub of Season 6.
- While not as bad as Seasons 9-10 and 12-16 as well as Misty Island Rescue and Day of the Diesels, the film still has its share of problems.
- The narration over-explaining the scene or pointing out the obvious.
- Overuse of rhyming and alliteration.
- Ridiculously short trains, such as Edward and James carrying a single flatbed between them, and Thomas and Percy struggling with two flatbeds, despite both having pulled longer trains up hills on their own.
- The engine crews doing little more than making the engines move.
- Whilst Hiro's backstory is amazing, him saying he was the first engine to live on Sodor is historically inaccurate considering his class was not built until the 1930's. They can keep how he was "Master of the Railway", but change the line into saying he was the first "international engine" on Sodor so nothing would contradict the flashback events of the Railway Series book, "Very Old Engines".
- Spencer was VERY unlikable throughout this special that you can see he's hard to root for and more easy to root against. From being snooty and mean-spirited to the Steam Team, to trying to get Hiro scrapped, to taking Percy's mail trucks, to often throwing insults and mockery at the Steam Team. Thankfully, he learns his lesson near the end.
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